The thoughts, semi-thoughts, splenetic rantings and vague half ideas, of a leftie-lib marooned in Palmerston North, New Zealand.

Sunday, 19 January 2014

Lord McAlpine dies

Lord McAlpine, a long term supporter of Margret Thatcher has died. He was the man briefly - and incorrectly - implicated in child abuse allegations in 2012. After a disgraceful trial by Twitter, it was confirmed he was innocent.

Several people - including smart people like George Monbiot - got into significant legal trouble over the accusations, but McAlpine opted to settle the cases out of court, requiring the offenders to carry out charity work or make donations to good causes.

That was profounded decent of him, and shows that he had a big soul.

David Cameron, however, decides to focus on his loyalty to the Tory Party, tweeting:

"My thoughts are with Lord McAlpine's family - he was a dedicated supporter of Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative party."

What a crap comment. Why not identify some of his noble qualities, rather than citing his slavish support of a mad woman and her corrupt cabal of sycophants?

Even I can think of better things to say about McAlpine that just praising his support for a political party - he demonstrated immense integrity and decency in the face of shocking and scurrilous accusations, and given the chance to exact revenge, chose not to take it.